Conrmatory Factor Analysis

P O C K E T G U I D E S T O
SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH METHODS

Series Editor
Tony Tripodi, DSW
Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University

Determining Sample Size

Balancing Power, Precision, and Practicality
Patrick Dattalo

Preparing Research Articles

Bruce A. Thyer

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis

Julia H. Littell, Jacqueline Corcoran, and Vijayan Pillai

Historical Research
Elizabeth Ann Danto

Conrmatory Factor Analysis

Donna Harrington
 DO N N A H A R R IN G TON

Conrmatory Factor
Analysis

2009
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harrington, Donna. Conrmatory factor analysis / Donna Harrington.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-533988-8
1. Social serviceResearch. 2. Evaluation research (Social action programs)
3. Evidence-based social work. I. Title.
HV11.H5576 2009 361.0072dc22

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper
 To my parents,
Pauline and Robert Harrington

And to my grandmother,
Marguerite A. Burke
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 Acknowledgments

I am incredibly grateful to several people for their guidance, encour-

agement, and constructive feedback. I would like to thank Dr. Joan
Levy Zlotnik, Executive Director of the Institute for the Advancement
of Social Work Research (IASWR) for inviting me to do a workshop on
conrmatory factor analysis (CFA). Much of the approach and several
of the examples used here were developed for that two-day workshop;
the workshop participants were enthusiastic and well prepared, and this
book builds on the questions they asked and the feedback they provided.
Dr. Elizabeth Greeno helped plan and co-led the workshop; one of her
articles is used as a CFA example in this book. This book would not exist
if Dr. Tony Tripodi, the series editor for these pocket books, had not seen
the IASWR workshop announcement and invited me to do a book pro-
posal; his comments and suggests on the outline of the book were very
helpful. The reviewers of the book proposal and draft of this book were
wonderful and I greatly appreciate all their feedback. I have also been
very lucky to work with Maura Roessner and Mallory Jensen at Oxford
University Press, who have provided guidance throughout this process.
I also have to thank the graduates and students of the University of
Maryland social work doctoral program over the past 14 yearsthey
have taught me more about social work, statistics, and teaching than I can
viii Acknowledgments

ever hope to pass on to anyone else. One doctoral student in particular,

Ms. Ann LeFevre, has been unbelievably helpfulshe found examples
of CFA in the social work literature, followed the Amos instructions to
see if you could actually complete a CFA with only this book for guid-
ance, and read several drafts, always providing helpful suggestions and
comments about how to make the material as accessible as possible for
readers. Finally, I have to thank my husband, Ken Brawn, for technical
assistance with the computer les, and more importantly, all the meals
he xed while I was working on this.
 Contents

1 Introduction 3

2 Creating a Conrmatory Factor Analysis Model 21

3 Requirements for Conducting Conrmatory Factor Analysis:

Data Considerations 36

4 Assessing Conrmatory Factor Analysis Model Fit and

Model Revision 50

5 Use of Conrmatory Factor Analysis with Multiple Groups 78

6 Other Issues 100

Glossary 105

Appendix A: Brief Introduction to Using Amos 107

References 115

Index 121
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Conrmatory Factor Analysis
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